Christian Dior is finalizing a lease for space at the south-east corner of Alberni and Thurlow Streets in Downtown Vancouver. This will be the first free-standing Christian Dior women's clothing boutique in Canada, and one of only a handful in North America. Christian Dior currently has three shop-in-store accessory boutiques at Holt Renfrew stores in Vancouver, Toronto (Bloor Street) and Montreal. Dior's Alberni Street store will join jeweller De Beers (which we previously reported) and Tory Burch (which we also previously reported) at the newly renovated Carlyle retail complex. Space at the Carlyle on Thurlow Street, currently occupied by The Keg restaurant, will become an upscale restaurant/nightclub concept.

Dior once had a ready-to-wear shop-in-store at Toronto's Creeds department store. Dior unfortunately closed with Creeds' bankruptcy in 1990. Dior women's clothing has since been available periodically at retailers including Holt Renfrew, Simpson's St. Regis Room in Toronto (now 'The Room' at Hudsons Bay), and Leone in Vancouver.

Chanel is seeking Alberni Street space and according to our source, Chanel will not be locating in the Carlyle. We will announce shortly where Chanel is looking, since it is retail space that does not yet currently exist. Dollar Tree, an American-based dollar store chain, will remain in the Carlyle complex with its entrance on the Thurlow Street side of the complex. We recently mentioned Dollar Tree's proximity to these luxury retailers. We will provide further details of the new Vancouver Christian Dior store as well as details on the size, configuration and location of Vancouver's new De Beers and Tory Burch stores within the Carlyle complex. We will soon be announcing several new exciting Vancouver retailers. Keep reading Retail Insider! And thank you to our source Van23H of Vancouver Skyscraper Forum. Christian Dior website: http://www.dior.com